Learning Letter

Learning Letter

ENG 493

                  The book talk focused on a young Japanese women and her experience of the U.S. after World War II. This narrative is well received by a young audience because it is very relatable. Students often feel out-casted or have trouble fitting-in in today’s society. This book offers World history along with a interesting story. I felt that the book talk went well, but I could have done better at explaining the storyline. I found it a little difficult to distinguish which events to leave-in or take-out as a mini preview into the book. I thought that the overall assignment was very beneficial because I was introduced to many books I have never read or heard of before.

The mini lesson I performed focused on defining imagery through the Shakespearian lens. The play, Romeo and Juliet was the chosen text for the lesson. Students were required to contribute in groups to find imagery within their given scene, and then finally physically performing the small scene for the class to hear. All students were required to complete a imagery term worksheet. In my attempt to aid student understanding I began with front-loading previous work with imagery and past Shakespeare readings. I also provided a short PowerPoint in where the term imagery is more defined. The PowerPoint also displayed a short bibliography of William Shakespeare, along with some fun facts about his works. I concluded the introduction PowerPoint with the agenda for the day. Overall I thought that the mini-lesson did achieve the overall objective for the day, but I do feel that the students could have received a deeper level of understanding had I described the worksheet better, and followed up with physical instructions. I do feel that the practice helps get over the jitters for performing in front of an audience, as well as practice skills for student voice, and lesson planning.

What I have learned from the lesson planning project is to have a direct vision for a lesson before trying to piece different aspects together. I have also learned that lesson planning for fifteen days takes a lot more time than expected. Along with all the unexpected struggles I have learned that extensive units can also be very fun because it allows more time to focus in on the literature and information. I felt that it was a lot less rushing in to a particular objective, and rather leaning into a greater focus with a lot more momentum and sources.

The theories and concepts we explored were based from a student minded focus, while also establishing productive methods for optimal student learning. These authors are research rooted and range from differentiated instruction methods to teaching accountability methods to students. These sources are working from a variety of elements implemented throughout my lesson plan such as, classroom discussion, reading and writing practices, student-teacher relationship, and importance of student-voice. I enjoyed these authors because I believe their practices to be very practical in applicability and credibility.

This course has aided my role as a teacher by influencing my teaching methods through the theories provided throughout the course. I have learned how to apply student-minded activities and conversation into the classroom for an overall better learning environment. I have also learned that classroom discussion is about a lot more than words being spoken. Without effective whole class discussion teachers are missing out on great learning opportunities. I feel that my confidence as a future teacher has grown tremendously because of what this course has provided. I feel that all of the assignments required truly contributed to my learning. As a whole I enjoyed the classroom environment and found Dr. Agriss to be very knowledgeable and very genuine in his goals for the classroom.